Barney Frank Protest
By Dustin Werstler | October 17, 2008
Today we attended the Barney Frant Protest Rally at White’s of Westport. More than twenty Republican supporters came out to let Barney Frank know that 27 years of misrepresentation was too much. There were many signs calling for his removal from office as well as various candidate signs. Shortly before Congressman Frank arrived, one of his three staffers out front called the Westport Police in an attempt to have us removed. That failed, and Barney Frank was received at 12:30 to a chorus of “Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Barney Frank has got to go!”. He went in the side door and appeared to be avoiding the protesters and outside media.
CJ Ferry spoke with Bill Rappley of NBC 10, and several protesters gave interviews to NBC 10, ABC 6, and Fox News. Interviews were given by State Republican Committeewoman Linda Rapoza, Committeeman David Rose, former Committeeman Steve Martin, and a few other of Frank’s objectors.
The weather turned out to be beautiful and the response from passing vehicles was positive. Aside from the Frank staffer trying to keep us under wraps with the police, everything went smoothly and without incident. It appears that people are finally realizing that is time for change in the Commonwealth.
Topics: Campaign, Democratic Party, Republican Party | Comments Off
CJ Ferry on “The Richard Urban Show”
By Dustin Werstler | October 9, 2008
On October 8th, CJ Ferry taped an episode of “The Richard Urban Show” with host Richard Urban. You can watch the show, in its entirety, with the above player.
If, for any reason, you are unable to play the video, please download a copy of it here: CJFerryRichardUrbanShow100808.wmv 94.8 MB
On the show, CJ fielded a variety of questions pertaining to Fall River and the Commonwealth, as a whole. Also, Richard Urban formally offered his show as a forum for a debate between the two candidates.
EMBED THIS VIDEO IN YOUR MYSPACE, FACEBOOK OR WEBPAGE:
On YouTube, the video had to be broken into four parts. If you’d like to embed the video on your site, we’ve created a YouTube playlist that contains all four parts so you only have to insert one bit of code.
Click Here for the Playlist Page with the Embed Code on YouTube
Topics: Appearances, Fall River, Podcast, Television, Video | No Comments »
Response to Herald News - Position on Question #1
By CJ Ferry, RN | October 7, 2008
I hope you all read the Fall River Herald News on Monday, October 6, 2008. They had a section where the candidates answered a question regarding their position on Question #1. I posted an honest, direct and fully thought out statement. My opponent, Rep. Kevin Aguiar, posted a position statement that restated the position of the fear mongers and public interest unions. Threats to necessary public services as a scare tactic is unacceptable. An outright lie, that cutting the State Income Tax will affect Social Security is outrageous! State taxes have no effect on Federal benefits and saying that was just a way to scare seniors. Will passage of Question One mean we have to look honestly and carefully at the State budget? YES, but in our economic situation we need to be very thrifty with unecessary expenditures. If you are reading this you should call Mr. Aguiar and tell him how lying with a typical political ploy is shameful and ask just how are we supposed to trust him if he lies to us.
What is your position on Question 1 regarding the elimination of the state income tax? AND If the question were to pass how would you as a state representative manage the loss of funding?
I firmly believe that if Question 1 passes, it will have drastic effects upon the way the Commonwealth, cities and towns do business. I support the rights of the people to propose legislation by ballot, although I feel it should and would be unnecessary if the people were listened to and their wishes carried to fruition if possible. Legislation by ballot allows the voice of the majority to be carried out. Question 1 is the result of the continued ignorance to the voice of the people in Massachusetts. Had the House and the Senate listened to the people and rolled back the income tax to 5% as was proposed in 2000, the people would not be requesting this action.
According to an article in The American Spectator, 41% of spending in Massachusetts state government is wasted. Addressing this waste should be priority one. The elimination of double-dipping with retirement packages, redundant positions in all levels of government, patronage-driven high cost consultants, and patronage positions with high-salaries also need to be cut, while maintaining the front-line workers. Why does government always terminate the people who do the work and maintain the patronage middle management high salary positions?
Responsible and balanced spending needs to become the answer to our fiscal problems, not continued and excessive taxation and spending. The governor is currently proposing cuts that Mitt Romney introduced during his administration and the Democrats killed. All of a sudden it is responsible and necessary. As reported by the State House News Service, the current Democratic Administration plans to raise the gasoline tax in January; we can not afford anymore!
The threats that public safety services, education and other valuable and necessary services will be cut because of this proposal is a scare tactic. The fact is our State is currently one billion dollars in the hole because of its inept spending. If you ran your home or business the way we run Massachusetts or Fall River, you would be in foreclosure.
The current proposal to consolidate services and departments will save money. Attrition of middle management positions throughout state and local government, restructuring of the state’s pension funds, restructuring of debt and other sound business practices would save money and save Massachusetts. If the Administration cuts valuable funding to necessary services, it would constitute a great violation of public trust and the economy as a whole will suffer.
Topics: Herald News, Issues, Kevin Aguiar | No Comments »
Community Alert: School Capacity Memo
By Dustin Werstler | September 9, 2008
This podcast is by CJ Ferry.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Herald News: School Overcrowding
By Dustin Werstler | September 8, 2008
“Greene School may already be over capacity”
View Article on Herald News Site
Fall River — On the third day of school Monday, the guardian of a 6-year-old attending one of the newer city elementary schools, has complained to city and state officials that the school — and maybe three others opened this month — are over capacity.
Code Enforcement Director Joseph Bizsko also questioned if the William S. Greene School, rebuilt five years ago, can have the number of pupils Superintendent Nicholas A. Fischer says is allowed.
CJ Ferry, of 300 Buffington St., said he has complained to all three officials and filed a written complaint Monday with the state Board of Building Regulations and Standards.
“They’re 141 (students) above the school’s legal capacity,” he said.
Ferry, a Republican who last year ran for School Committee and City Council and currently seeks the state representative seat held by School Committee member Kevin Aguiar, said his complaint asks: “Are we going to be able to get 141 extra students out of that school safely?”
He bases that on school enrollments Friday at Greene (791 pupils), along with the three new schools: Carlton M. Viveiros (829), Mary Fonseca (690) and Alfred Letourneau, the latter school projecting 595 pupils on Aug. 12.
Higher enrollments have been expected since the School Department closed 12 elementary schools this fall.
On March 31, Bizsko’s building inspection office listed Green’s capacity at 650 — 141 fewer than the 791 Ferry reported — and a March 12 enrollment of 618.
Fischer said the school has a capacity of 1,050, based upon 30 children for each of the 35 classrooms and upon the “architectural design.” He said the design is based upon building specifications that are based upon fire code requirements.
“I would not put more students in the building than what the architectural drawings says is safe,” Fischer said.
Bizsko reacted with surprise to Fischer’s figures.
“Somebody should have called us before they transferred all these kids,” he said.
He said school capacity specifications include the size of exit doors and widths of aisles. “You can’t just go by square footage of rooms. What good is having 1,000 people if the means of egress can only handle 650?”
Of the 650 on the Greene certificate, he said, “There’s a discrepancy, and we’re looking into it.”
Ferry was not alone decrying perceived overcrowding at Greene, questioning if that’s the case at the three new schools.
“They didn’t let the kids out until the parents cooperated and cleared a path so the kids could come out,” Gilda DaCosta said after picking up her second-grade daughter Thursday, the first day of school.
“Last year was so much better. This was very overwhelming,” she said, noting that unlike new school parents she’s had three years of familiarity at Greene.
“They closed too many schools at the same time,” Connie Cabral, mother of a Greene second-grader said. She also called the school pickup “overwhelming.”
“They knew prior to opening of these schools,” Ferry said, “the numbers were over capacity.”
Topics: Fall River, Herald News, Issues, Schools | No Comments »
Community Alert: Schools Over Capacity
By CJ Ferry, RN | September 7, 2008
This audio update is by CJ Ferry.
Topics: Audio Update, Fall River, Issues, Podcast, Schools, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Speak Up: Carl Boardman
By Dustin Werstler | August 30, 2008
This podcast is by Carl Boardman, a concerned Fall River resident.
If you’d like to record one of these yourself, click here for details!
Topics: Podcast, Speak Up | 1 Comment »
Gripe Call 8/19 - Teachers, Appointees, Qualifications, Business
By CJ Ferry, RN | August 20, 2008
This audio podcast is by CJ Ferry.
Topics: Gripe of the Day, Issues, Podcast | No Comments »
Audio Update - Volunteer Meeting
By Dustin Werstler | August 18, 2008
This is an audio update from CJ Ferry’s campaign to be your State Representative.
Our next volunteer meeting is August 28 from 6:30pm to 7:30pm at our campaign office. Our campaign office is located at 407 South Main Street in Fall River.
Call 508-673-2008 with any questions.
Topics: Audio Update, Campaign, Podcast, Volunteers | No Comments »
Gripe Call 8/18 - Accountability
By CJ Ferry, RN | August 18, 2008
This audio podcast is by CJ Ferry.
Topics: Gripe of the Day, Podcast | No Comments »
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